China's Long March 9 Successfully Passed the Engine Test

China's first Yf-79 engine prototype for the Long March 9 rocket passed a successful test. According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the engine has overcome technical challenges.

Long March Yf-79 Engine Difficulties

The project's principal contractor, BAEIT, announced on Friday that three ground tests of the new hydrogen-oxygen engine had been successfully completed. BAEIT is a unit of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Without providing any other information, BAEIT stated that it had tested the new engine, along with a high-thrust hydrogen-oxygen engine and an orbital control engine, with 12 ignition tests over the course of a week. The CASC unit said that it shortened the test cycles, increased test capacity, and achieved consecutive successes.

According to WION, Yf-79 is a thrust expander cycle hydrogen-oxygen engine. It weighs 25 tons and it is designed to be the most powerful rocket engine of its type. The developers aim to make the engine capable of multiple ignitions and powering a landing probe in its final stage.

It is being built for the Long March 9 super heavy-lift rocket, also known as CZ-9, which is intended for space missions like crewed lunar landings and Mars exploration.

Engine and boosters for the Long March 9

According to South China Morning Post, the development of the YF-90, a second-stage engine with a 220-ton supplement combustion cycle hydrogen-oxygen engine, was completed by the CASC last year. As a first stage and booster, the YF-130, a 500-ton-thrust kerosene-oxygen combustion cycle supplement engine, is also being developed.

The Long March 9 is a three-stage rocket with boosters. The first stage will involve using four YF-130s, the second stage will involve using two YF-90s, and the third stage will involve using four YF-79s. Additionally, the YF-130s might serve as boosters.

Long March 9 Development and Plans

According to Interesting Engineering, the Long March 9 was developed with the ability to deliver 15 to 50 tons of payload to the moon or 12 to 44 tons to Mars, according to Liu Bing, a designer with the CASC, who made this statement at the Zhuhai Air Show last year.

Its capability in lower-Earth orbit ranges from 50 to 140 tons, which is equal to the 150 tons of the US SpaceX Falcon Heavy and nearly six times that of the Long March 5 rocket, which is now the most potent rocket in China.

China intends to send astronauts to the moon within the next ten years and to construct a permanent lunar station by the year 2035 after its Chang'e 5 space lander obtained samples from the lunar surface in 2020 during an unmanned mission.

ALSO READ: Will the Long March 5 Rocket Space Debris From China Destruct the Earth?

China's Lunar Orbital Mission with Russia

The upcoming International Scientific Lunar Station, developed by China and Russia, will consist of a number of experimental research facilities either on the Moon's surface or in its orbit. With the potential for long-term unmanned operation and the possibility of a human presence on the moon, the project will strive to facilitate a variety of research experiments.

Similar to NASA, China has garnered support from other nations for its plans to build infrastructure on the moon. It has also sent numerous robotic Chang'e missions to the lunar satellite, which last December carried out a sample retrieval mission and made history by becoming the first mission to land on the moon's far side.